FCC Cites Homeowners for Causing Interference to Radio Amateur:

Things aren't all that friendly in one Friendswood, Texas, neighborhood, where a dispute over interference from one couple's battery chargers to a neighboring radio amateur has resulted in an official FCC Citation to the couple. The December 10 Citation is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute that FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth has described as "an unfortunate neighborhood situation." The Citation sprang from complaints by ARRL member William Cooper, W5ZAF, that his next-door neighbors' battery chargers were interfering with his ham radio activities. The FCC concurred.

"Investigation by the FCC's Houston Office revealed that on December 7, 2004, you were operating battery charging devices at your residence," the Citation said. "These devices were observed to be generating radio frequency pulses on various high-frequency radio bands. These radio frequency pulses were determined to be causing harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service." Only after FCC agents visited the couple's home did the interference cease. The FCC did not make the couple's names public nor did it post the Citation on its Web site.

The ARRL Laboratory has been working with the FCC and Cooper to help broker a resolution to the interference issue.

FCC Part 15 rules regulating "unintentional radiators" require that the operator of such devices must cease operation upon FCC notification that it's causing harmful interference. "Operation may not resume until the condition causing the harmful interference has been corrected," the FCC said.

Since it began about a year ago--when Cooper first suspected the interference he was hearing came from his neighbors' Christmas lights--the squabble has escalated beyond the interference issue. Both parties have hired attorneys, and volumes of correspondence have changed hands. Last September, the couple complained that Cooper's antenna support structure violated homeowners' association covenants.

After notices from the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau went unanswered, Hollingsworth issued warning notices to the couple last June and September alleging that the battery chargers--apparently used to charge some electric scooters--were causing interference. Cooper provided his neighbors with free toroid core devices that resolved the interference, but the couple subsequently removed them. The couple told Hollingsworth they'd initially been willing to work with Cooper but took out the filters after he allegedly made disparaging remarks about them to another neighbor and took photos of their house and property.

Hollingsworth responded by emphasizing that it's the couple's responsibility to correct the interference--whether or not they accept Cooper's help. Simply unplugging the chargers when not in use--as they had suggested--was not an acceptable solution, he told them in his final Warning Notice. Cooper claimed the chargers had been operating 24 hours a day.

The FCC Citation, which does not require a response from the couple, warned that subsequent violations could lead to fines, equipment seizure and even possible criminal sanctions.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 24, No. 01 January 7, 2005

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